BBQ Pulled Pork Dry Rub – How to Smoke a Pork Butt

A BBQ Pulled Pork Dry Rub is the flavor foundation of your pork butt. Outside of a pork injection, it adds flavor and helps create that delicious bark. Let’s chat about it.

Summertime is Coming

Smoking pulled pork is simply a BBQ classic. Nothing says “Summer’s Coming” like a sweaty butt! It brings back memories of when dad would fire up the smoker on a beautiful Saturday morning!

He would tend to the smoker all day and we would have wonderful pulled pork sandwiches for dinner!

What Makes a Great Pork Rub for Pulled Pork?

The BBQ pulled pork dry rub we are referring to is Butcher BBQ Premium Rub. This is a delicious rub that is not only a pulled pork rub, but it is fantastic on pork ribs, pork tenderloin, steak, brisket, and chicken.

Here's what makes it great rub:

• It has a brown sugar base for a little sweet.
• Paprika and other spices for a bit of a kick at the end.
• Highest quality ingredients used.
• Hand blended in small batch productions.

Trim that Pork Butt

Before applying our pulled pork rub, we want to trim that pork butt. Grab a sharp boning knife and let’s get started.

The butchering process for a pork butt can be sloppy. Sometimes they may leave scores in the meat that will easily burn up during the cook. Use your boning knife and carefully remove any part that might be dangling.

When I trim a pork butt, I think about what I don’t want my family to eat. For example, if you find anything tough or inedible, like a piece of gristle, gone. If you see a large artery or vein, get that out of there too!

BBQ Pulled Pork Dry Rub - Let's Apply It

One nice feature of Butcher BBQ Premium Rub is it comes in its own shaker bottle. Simply pop the top to expose the small holes and you are ready to go.

This is a large piece of meat, so apply a liberal amount of BBQ pulled pork dry rub. If your pork butt is 8-9 lbs most of the meat will not be exposed to the rub. The rub will only be on the outside so cover that butt!

How to apply the rub:

1. Start with the presentation side down.
2. Hold the shaker bottle 4-6 inches above the meat.
3. Shake side to side and evenly distribute the rub.
4. Flip and hit each side with rub.
5. Finally sprinkle the rub on your presentation side.
6. Press the rub into the meat.
7. Let it rest in the fridge for 45 minutes until it starts to sweat.

Once it is pulled, the external part of the pork butt will mix with the rest of the meat. This is when the pork dry rub will balance out the meat to rub ratio.

Time to Smoke the Pork Butt

We shoot for a grate temperature around 275 degrees. At this temperature you should expect a 7-9 hour cook.

We suggest spritzing every two hours with a barbecue spray bottle. We use water, but you can use apple juice, white grape juice, whatever flavor sounds good to you.

We are just adding layers of flavor at this point.

Time to Wrap

Your pork dry rub is doing its thing and has formed an amazing dark bark! We first eat with our eyes, so this has amazing eye appeal!

After about 5-6 hours your internal temperature should reach 165 degrees and it’s time to wrap.

• Hit it with some more Butcher BBQ Premium Rub.
• Add 4-5 pats of butter, remember butter is your friend in BBQ!
• Add some brown sugar.
• Optional – Add some juice, or leave it as is, completely up to you.
• Tightly wrap in two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Back on the pit at the same temperature, 275 degrees, for a few more hours.

Pork Butt is Done

After another 2-3 hours it’s time to check the temperature with a probe thermometer. Your internal temperature should be between 200-206, but you are looking for no resistance when probing.

Time is irrelevant at this point of the cook. You want to focus on how the pork butt feels. That thermometer should pierce the pork butt with no resistance.

Time to Rest

Let your pork butt rest for at least an hour. The longer the better, but we would suggest not resting longer than 3 hours.

Resting allows time for the au jus sauce created with the BBQ pulled pork dry rub to absorb some back into the meat.

Let's Pull That Pork Butt

Now that is a beautiful pork butt! The pork butt rub has created some amazing color and it smells amazing!

If you have a bone in pork butt, a clean bone pull is a good sign!

Grab a pair of pork shredding claws and simply pull the meat apart. It is so tender, juicy and it pulls apart with zero resistance!

Now we are ready to add some BBQ sauce and make some pulled pork sandwiches!

Pro tip – As you start to pull, add some of the au jus sauce from your foil wrap into the pan. This will add more flavor and keep the pulled pork moist.

In Conclusion

After using our BBQ Pulled Pork Dry Rub, you now know how to create an amazing meal for your family! With primary ingredients, a little knowledge, you can create amazing smoked pulled pork in your backyard.

Now, who’s ready to fire up the pit and start cooking? Guys, get in on this Butcher BBQ Premium Rub and let us know in the comments how it turned out!